The invention relates to a climate control system for the interior of a motor vehicle, having a blower regulator, heating control unit or brushless blower motor, as well as function components such as operating elements, sensors, clocking valves and adjusting drive mechanisms, which are connected to one another and to the vehicle battery via connecting lines and to which the information required to operate the blower regulator, heating control unit or brushless blower motor are transmitted.
In climate control for the interior of a motor vehicle, blower regulators or brushless electric motors are used to regulate the blower power. For control/regulation, a microcomputer can also be used. To achieve improved heating after cold starting, a supplementary heater can also be provided. For these heaters, special heating control units are used, which can also have a microcomputer.
The adjusting drive mechanisms employed can be controlled by a control unit with a microcomputer.
A climate control system for the interior of a motor vehicle of the known type is characterized by many variants. The use of the following components, for instance, is known:
a) blower regulator/heating control unit with a current or voltage input;
b) blower regulator/heating control unit with PWM input;
c) diagnosis-type blower regulator/heating control units;
d) blower regulator/heating control unit with diagnostic interface;
e) brushless electric motors;
f) control units for adjusting drive mechanisms;
g) bus-capable adjusting drive mechanisms or valve controls.
In each case, climate control system for the interior of a motor vehicles with these function components require complicated cabling that has to be laid in the vehicle, with many wires that have to be laid by way of plug connections.
It is the object of the invention to create a climate control system for the interior of a motor vehicle of the type defined at the outset that can be installed in the vehicle with a minimum of cabling complication and expense.
This object is attained according to the invention in that the blower regulator, the heating control unit, or the brushless blower motor is combined with the function components to make a pre-wired climate control unit, to which the supply voltage of the vehicle battery; that the blower regulator, the heating control unit, or the brushless blower motor is designed in bus-capable fashion with a microcomputer, which communicates via a bus interface (such as a two-wire bus B) with a climate control operating device supplied by the supply voltage; and that the information required for operating the climate control apparatus can be transmitted between the climate control operating device and microcomputer as part of a bus protocol via the bus interface (such as a two-wire bus B).
By integrating the function components with the climate control unit and utilizing the blower regulator, heating control unit or brushless blower motor with the microcomputer in conjunction with the bus system, not only is the complication and expense of cabling reduced to a minimum with the bus interface and the power supply, but at the same time decisive advantages for testing the climate control unit are achieved. The climate control unit can be prefabricated in complete form and tested simply by means of the bus interface. The adjusting drive mechanisms can be calibrated and the sensors can be checked without additional effort for plugging anything in. Connecting the climate control unit requires only a single plugging operation. The prechecked climate control unit no longer needs to be checked completely after installation by the motor vehicle manufacturer. The effort and expense for assembly and testing are therefore greatly reduced. In the climate control operating device, the expense for software and hardware can be reduced, since hardware-specific requirements can be moved into a component of the climate control unit.
In a further feature, it is provided that the microcomputer of the blower regulator, of the heating control unit, or of the brushless blower motor reports diagnostic data, as part of the bus protocol, back to the climate control operating device.
Inside the prewired climate control device, for the sake of information exchange it can also be provided that the information present in the climate control unit from non-bus-capable function components is processed by the microcomputer of the blower regulator, of the heating control unit, or of the brushless blower motor and is made available as part of the bus protocol.
A further improvement can be achieved by providing that to reduce the resting current consumption, bus-capable function components in the climate control unit can be connected as a function of need to the supply voltage.
For the bus system, an embodiment that is characterized in that a standardized bus protocol includes the information for mass-production outfitting of the function components of the climate control unit is advantageous.
In one feature, the connection of the climate control unit is effected simply by providing that the climate control unit can be switched on via a three-wire plug connection.